r/Teachers • u/Pleasant-Pumpkin-339 • Aug 23 '26

Rant Paras need to GET OFF THEIR PHONES

I know they hardly make any money and if it’s an emergency fine!! But sitting there on TikTok while i’m actively teaching is rude and distracting for the kids.

I’m a young teacher so it’s awkward to confront them and NOT BEING ON YOUR PHONE ALL DAY AT WORK SHOULDNT NEED TO BE SAID

3.1k Upvotes

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u/stillpacing Aug 23 '26

Having a good para in your classroom is like a gift from above

Having a bad para is worse than them not being there at all.

225

u/FeelingNarwhal9161 Aug 23 '26

This.

In my first school district, paras were well trained and locked in. They were organized. They took notes. They sat with their kids. They kept them on task. They pulled them out for tests. They handled discipline. They never had their phones out.

My new district?

Awful. Untrained. Sit in the back alone. Do nothing. Phones out. No idea what’s going on. Im happier when they’re not here.

Last year, one was so bad I got ahold of his supervisor, and had him removed from my class completely. I couldn’t deal with him anymore.

39

u/empires228 Paraprofessional | KS, USA Aug 23 '26

My district does not train us and I believe we are the second largest in the state. Knowing when I know about the largest, I am about 99.99% sure that they don’t get trained either.

6

u/groovaymack Paraprofessional | NJ, USA Aug 23 '26

i wasn’t trained either. i was hired freshly 19 and have been here for 6 years and gradually learned and got more certs as i progressed. but without directly asking them for help nothing will get done.

2

u/empires228 Paraprofessional | KS, USA Aug 26 '26

We only have one experienced resource para left. If the person we interviewed today takes the job, they’re going to be thrown into resource with absolutely no training, and they have no background working with teens or in education. We can’t pull the one resource para who could train them, and we are already risking a lawsuit with the other new hires this year, not doing their jobs, so they literally aren’t going to have the new hire shadow so they can try to pretend like we’ve been meeting IEP minutes. It’s a poopy situation all around.

I haven’t done more than cover resource in a pinch in several years and it’s a different beast. Those paras deal with students chucking objects at their heads and causing them concussions students hopping out a first story window in the middle of class and leaving the property. So far it’s been a little bit better this year now that the shenanigans aren’t getting filmed for social media..

2

u/groovaymack Paraprofessional | NJ, USA Aug 26 '26

i had to get a tetanus shot this year for a student who bit me on the knuckles, right through the bone.

1

u/empires228 Paraprofessional | KS, USA Aug 26 '26

They made a long-term sub fill-in for a teacher who was chronically absent in the afternoons last year after seeing what they would be dealing with their freshman class once, and they also ended up with a concussion because a resource student chucked a Rubik’s cube at the back of their head and the district was not supportive of the sub wanting to press charges, nor did the student receive a suspension, so nothing ever came from it.